One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

For Lin Yu, it felt like an entire century spent staring down the barrel of a gun.

Finally.

Perhaps because that consciousness deemed this forest, with only low-level beasts and faint earth vein fluctuations, too ordinary and unremarkable. Or perhaps because dealing with the source of the insect plague was more important.

That consciousness withdrew slowly, like the ebbing tide.

Without any ripple, as if it had never appeared at all.

Inside the Xuantian ring.

Lin Yu remained in that "soul power compressed sphere" posture. Only after a full half-day did he dare to loosen a tiny crack and extend a sliver of perception.

Outside, all was calm.

"Hah..."

Lin Yu, like a deflated ball, "collapsed" onto the floor of the ring's space. His illusory soul body flickered between brightness and dimness, clearly terrified out of his wits by what just happened.

He wiped non-existent cold sweat from his forehead and looked at the still-unconscious Su Ming outside, transmitting a thought with lingering fear:

"Disciple... your teacher nearly vanished just now..."

...

As the "clearing" by that azure sword light ended, the two other white lights in the sky finally descended.

They were two "Cloud-Piercing Battleships" as massive as mountain ranges.

Their pitch-black hulls were forged from unknown spiritual materials, their surfaces engraved with intricate defensive formation lines, gleaming with a cold metallic luster under the sunlight. Hundreds of spirit-guiding cannons menacingly pointed towards the ground, each muzzle radiating a destructive aura.

Beside these two behemoths followed a slightly smaller, yet more exquisite silver airship. Carved on its gunwale were the Cloud Hidden Sect's distinctive flowing cloud patterns, and a massive flag bearing the character "Medicine" flapped noisily in the wind.

The rescue vessel from Pill Cauldron Peak.

As the battleship hatches opened, countless streams of light descended like locusts.

Some wore the Enforcement Hall's black armor, others wore the outer sect's blue robes. They began to work methodically across the scorched earth.

"Clear the battlefield! Search for survivors!"

"Formation Masters! Go repair the earth vein nodes! Plug that leaking hole first!"

"Alchemist Battalion! Set up camp here and prepare to treat the wounded!"

Commands echoed across the wilderness through amplification formation arrays, instantly turning the deathly silent ruins into a scene of clamor.

In mid-air, about fifty miles from the Black Pine Forest.

A middle-aged cultivator in a dark golden robe stood on a flying sword, advancing slowly.

He held a compass-like magical implement in his hand, his brow slightly furrowed as if searching for something. The pointer on the compass didn't point to a specific direction but trembled incessantly, emitting a faint buzzing sound.

"Strange..."

The middle-aged cultivator halted and looked towards the Black Pine Forest to the south.

"Senior Brother Liu, what's wrong?"

A young female cultivator followed from behind, holding a soul-guiding lantern used to collect remnant souls. "The insects in this area have already been cleaned up by Sword Venerable Qingming. Do we still need to search?"

The middle-aged man addressed as Senior Brother Liu shook his head, gently tapping the edge of the compass with his finger.

"Although Sword Venerable's strike just now annihilated the insect swarm, it also shook the earth veins. My 'Dragon-Seeking Compass' indicates that the earth energy flow to the south is... somewhat discordant."

"Discordant?" The female cultivator glanced puzzledly at the pine forest blanketed in pristine white snow. "That's the buffer zone, right? Besides trees and rocks, what could be there?"

"Precisely because it's too calm."

"Perhaps the terrain is special?" the female cultivator guessed.

"Perhaps." Senior Brother Liu put away the compass and turned his sword's tip. "But it could also be a spiritual energy void caused by some kind of concealment formation. What if a high-level demonic beast or... a survivor is hiding there?"

"Let's go check."

Before his words faded, two sword lights streaked across the sky, heading straight for the Black Pine Forest.

...

Golden Core cultivator Li Changfeng, hovering mid-air, fixed his hawk-like gaze on the seemingly ordinary snowy forest below. The pointer on his Dragon-Seeking Compass still trembled wildly, emitting a faint yet urgent buzz—a kind of resonance generated by spiritual energy under extreme suppression.

"Uncle-Master Li, apart from a pile of scattered rocks and snow, there seems to be no sign of living beings below," the Foundation Establishment female cultivator behind him said softly. The flame in her soul-guiding lantern was weak, not capturing any remnant soul fluctuations.

Li Changfeng didn't reply, only slowly raised his right hand. In his palm, a cluster of crimson Dan Fire materialized and danced. The surrounding snowflakes vanished into nothingness before even touching it.

"If it were a dead land, the earth vein flow should be like stagnant water. But the spiritual energy in this area..." Li Changfeng suddenly clenched his five fingers, his voice cold. "...seems artificially 'severed.' Too clean, clean like a painted scenery."

"Search this area carefully. Don't overlook any spiritual energy anomaly."

At his command, several sword lights descended from the clouds, carrying an inspecting pressure, sweeping inch by inch across the Black Pine Forest.

Below, inside the stone house.

That sense of secluded tranquility was being replaced by a suffocating heaviness. Although the "Hidden Dragon Formation" blocked sound and sight, everyone present felt a tremor originating from the depths of their souls. It was the instinctive physiological reaction of low-level cultivators facing high-level pressure.

Lu Jun curled up behind the door, his teeth chattering uncontrollably, producing faint "clattering" sounds. He desperately covered his mouth, his eyeballs bloodshot from extreme congestion. Through the decaying crack in the wooden door, he saw a crimson stream of light hovering directly above the roof.

The light wasn't dazzling, but carried a heat that could bake one's marrow dry.

"It's a Golden Core Perfected One..." Old Zhang's wound at his severed leg split open, blood seeping out, but he remained oblivious, only gripping the chipped, half-broken blade tightly with his remaining hand, his knuckles white.

The air inside the room seemed to have solidified into lead blocks. Every breath required immense effort.

Su Ming, unconscious on the stone bed, frowned tightly, his fingers twitching involuntarily by his side. Inside the Xuantian ring, Lin Yu had already compressed his soul body to the extreme, completely severing all connection with the outside world, leaving only an extremely obscure fluctuation to desperately protect the core of Su Ming's soul.

"Come out."

Li Changfeng's voice penetrated the formation and entered the house. It wasn't an auditory sound but a rolling thunder that exploded directly in everyone's minds. "Whether human or ghost, hiding your head and concealing your tail... are you perhaps guilty?"

Before his words faded, the hovering crimson stream of light suddenly pressed down.

Crack.

The rotten chimney serving as the formation core instantly turned to dust under this immense spiritual pressure.

Immediately after, the invisible "membrane" enveloping the stone house silently dissolved.

The wind and snow previously deflected by the formation howled in. The stone house's disguise was completely torn away, exposed for all to see.

"No... don't attack!"